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Gourmet Spices, Herbs, Tea, Essential Oils and Potpourri at Wholesale Prices.
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Monday, January 21, 2008
A Terrific Cajun Spice in New England (Really)
Spicy Food Guy has purchased dozens of cajun spices over the years, most of them with cool names like "Crazy Cajun Killer Rub" with a graphic showing a swamp, crayfish, gator, or all three. Made in Louisiana and hot and tasty as all get out. Great on fish, chicken, and pork chops.
So imagine Spicy Food Guy's surprise at finding one of the best cajun spices he has ever tasted at the Atlantic Spice Company in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
A couple of caveats. First, it's really not fair that New England has a really good cajun spice. They already have the Championship Red Sox, the Championship Patriots, and the best lobster rolls you can get in the continental United States.
Secondly, Cape Cod is a cool place to take kids. One day, when Spicy Food Guy took Intellectual Eldest Daughter of Spicy Food Guy (IEDOSFG) and Loud Only Son of Spicy Food Guy (LOOSOSFG) on a whale watching trip, we saw a basking shark up close. It was the most bizarre animal Spicy Food Guy has ever seen in the wild; you could stuff an oil barrel in its open mouth, and still have room to add a couple of presidential candidates. We're talking one big mouth. To date, the basking shark is the only thing seen anywhere that has rendered LOOSOSFG absolutely silent.
Anyway, one rainy day in Cape Cod Loving Mother of Spicy Food Guy (LMOSFG) talked him into a trip to the Atlantic Spice Company, where Spicy Food Guy bought a small jar of cajun spice. Months later, Spicy Food Guy ordered a couple of pounds of the same spice, put it in a big oversized jar and placed it in a position of honor in the pantry. Later, one of the kids cut a picture of the word "hot" out of a magazine and taped it to the jar.
No lie there. The Atlantic Spice Company cajun spice is very hot, and very, very flavorful. Spicy Food Guy especially loves it on fish, shrimp, gumbo, and grilled vegetables. Great stuff. The Atlantic Spice Company makes spices for a living. They nailed the hell out of this one. |
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Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Spice up your Summer
by Andrea Pyenson
Memorial Day is just around the corner, and for winter-weary New Englanders that means just one thing… packing up the cars and heading to the highway to sit in traffic. If the highway you’re on leads to the Cape, there’s one non-beach activity you must put on your to-do list this summer – a visit to Truro’s Atlantic Spice Company.
It’s easy to miss Atlantic Spice Co., set back from the road where Route 6 meets Route 6A in North Truro. Incongruously located in this idyllic spot on the Outer Cape, known more for its majestic beaches than for its culinary bounty, Atlantic Spice Company has flourished by offering dried herbs and spices of exceptional quality, at wholesale prices, from its 8,000 square foot warehouse, fronted by a 2,500 square foot store. The business’ clientele ranges from vacationers passing through, to restaurants east of the Mississippi, to health food stores and food co-ops, and the thousands of people who have discovered its catalog and Web site.
A heady aroma, accentuated by pepper and exotic spices, engulfs visitors before they even enter the building. “All spice warehouses have a similar smell,” notes the company’s co-founder, Mark Irving. “It’s a blend of everything that’s in the air.” Inside, the cavernous warehouse is filled literally from floor to ceiling with an enticing mix of culinary herbs and spices, extracts, teas, dehydrated vegetables, dried fruits, nuts, seeds, botanicals and essential oils. Low lights and the ever-present herb-and-spice bouquet produce a calming environment that encourages visitors to drift through the store. And they do. In addition to culinary herbs and spices, the store sells essential oils, potpourri ingredients, books and literature about herbs and spices, cookbooks, kitchen items from spice and pepper grinders to handcrafted ceramics, and glass containers in all colors, shapes and sizes.
Visiting the Atlantic Spice Company is a wholly engaging experience, and the prices make it worth a detour if you’re anywhere near the area, but it’s the quality that keeps old customers coming back and new ones coming in — virtually, if not physically. Atlantic Spice Co. has a trusted network of growers throughout the U.S., as well as relationships with major U.S.-based importers and other suppliers around the world that keep the business stocked with the freshest herbs and spices.
The sweet basil, dill and cilantro come from California, peppermint and spearmint from Oregon, vanilla beans from Indonesia and Madagascar, saffron from Spain, and nutmeg from the West Indies. Freshness affects taste even of dried herbs and spices — especially green, leafy herbs like parsley, dill, cilantro and basil. “Nothing we sell is older than the crop year,” Irving promises. “Because of the amount of product we move, we have a much fresher supply” than supermarkets.
Food is a trendy business, and while Atlantic Spice Co. has lots of staples in its catalog — pepper, garlic, parsley, and cloves are the most popular items — the company follows food trends and listens to customers’ requests. “One of the nicest parts of our retail business is that it enables us to keep in touch, on a face-to-face basis, with our customers,” Irving says. “When Neil [Hanscomb] and I opened the business, we didn’t anticipate how well our retail store would do. Lots of times customers request certain items, and we try to find what they want.”
From currency to condiments, “each spice has its own history,” he notes. “It’s a fun business.”
Atlantic Spice Company’s Vanilla Extract
Makes 2 ounces
1 vanilla bean
2 ounces vodka or brandy
Split vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds.
Place the seeds and the pod in a glass container.
Add vodka or brandy.
Cure the mixture for 3 weeks, shaking twice a week.
Note: As your supply gets low, you can add vodka or brandy to the original vanilla bean. It retains its strength for quite some time. |
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Wednesday, July 14, 1999
When your culinary life seems just a little bland, Truro's Atlantic Spice Co. is just the ticket.
By Carolyn Watts
The Cape Cod Journal
TRURO -- For a close encounter of the olfactory kind, follow your nose to Truro's Atlantic Spice Co. Walking through the company's door, it doesn't take more than a whiff to send your sinuses into a state of sensory overload. The stimulation is immediate, intense and, for the discerning nose, somewhat unsettling.
Is it the sweet smell of cinnamon or the hot, scratchy aroma of pepper? No, I believe it's hot chilies combined with the delicate bouquet of nutmeg. Then again it could be turmeric with a touch of cayenne...
No use trying to figure it out, with hundreds of herbs, spices, teas, essential oils and potpourri ingredients on hand, what you're smelling is a resplendent, indefinable blend.
Since the company's birth in 1993 business has been so extra-odor-nary that the company's original warehouse is now used solely as retail sales space. The new warehouse and packaging area -- which was added to the original building three years ago -- is filled to the brim with bins, bags, and boxes of basil, bay leaves, barbecue spice blend and the like.
Business is still booming, according to manager Linnet Hultin. Hultin estimates that on an average day the company ships out 2,000 pounds of spices. That's a lot of bang for your brunch when you consider that it takes even a somewhat enthusiastic cook like myself two to three years to use up a .43-ounce container of coriander.
Who purchases all that powder, flakes and seeds?
Aside from servicing 95 percent of the restaurants on the Lower Cape (Hultin's estimate), the spice company gives restaurants all along the East Coast the goods to make dinner more dramatic. The company's clients include some of the Cape's best-known restaurants -- the Impudent Oyster, Chillingworth, and the Manse Inn to name but a few -- and Boston's famed Realto.
Aside from the wholesale business, Hultin says the retail outlet has become quite a destination in its own right.
"We have maybe 200 to 300 people during the course of the day," Hultin says. She says many of the customers spend up to an hour browsing around.
"Not bad for a spice store," she points out.
Here are a few of the spice folks' favorite recipes.
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A homemade chai -- you know, the Indian drink that taste like pumpkin pie -- that's easy to make and perfect every time.
Sally Champe's Masala Chai
Makes 1 3/4 cups
One 14-ounce can unsweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
Pour the milk into a clean, dry jar. Add all of the spices and cover tightly with lid. Place in the refrigerator. The longer it stays refrigerated, the better it gets. To use, stir the mixture, and scoop out 2-3 tablespoons directly into a cup of very strong, very hot black tea.
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This recipe comes from Truro's Ellen Burr.
Saffron, cod and tomato soup
Serves 4-6
2-3 threads dried saffron (or 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
3 cups fish stock (or vegetable or chicken broth)
3 fresh bayberry leaves
1 teaspoon fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
One 14 1/2-ounce can stewed tomatoes
1 pound fresh cod filets, cut into 1-inch chunks
1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper sauce, or to taste
lemon slices, ground cayenne and minced parsley for garnish
Mix together saffron, lemon juice, salt and garlic in a 3-quart non-reactive saucepan. Add the stock, bayberry leaves and thyme. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add the stewed tomatoes. Bring to a second boil. Stir in the cod, lower heat and simmer just until the fish whitens and begins to flake. Season to taste with hot red pepper sauce. Serve hot, garnished with lemon slices sprinkled with cayenne and minced parsley. Serve with a loaf of Portuguese, French or Italian bread.
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Bon Appetit published this recipe in November, 1995.
Multi-grain bread with sesame, flax and poppy seeds
Makes 1 loaf
1/2 cup unsweetened multi-grain cereal (such as 7-grain)
2 cups boiling water
1 envelope dry yeast
4 1/3 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
2 teaspoons flax seeds
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
Place cereal in large bowl. Pour 2 cups boiling water over cereal. Let stand until mixture cools to between 105°F and 115° F, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle yeast over cereal. Add 1 cup bread flour, oil, sugar and salt and stir until smooth. Gradually mix in enough remaining bread flour to form dough. Cover dough; let rest 15 minutes.
Turn out dough onto floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if sticky, about 10 minutes. Oil large bowl. Add dough to bowl; turn to coat with oil. Cover bowl with clean kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm area until doubled, about 1 hour.
Mix all seeds in bowl. Punch down dough. Turn out onto lightly oiled surface. Knead briefly. Shape into 12x14-inch loaf. Sprinkle baking sheet with 2 teaspoons seeds. Place loaf atop seeds. Cover with towel. Let rise in warm area until almost doubled, about 30 minutes.
Position one oven rack in center and one just below center in oven. Place baking pan on lower rack and preheat over to 425°F. Brush loaf with water. Sprinkle with remaining seed mixture. Cut 3 diagonal slashes in surface of loaf. Place baking sheet with loaf in oven. Immediately pour 2 cups water into hot pan on lower rack in oven (water will steam).
Bake loaf until golden and crusty and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool. (Can be made one day ahead. Wrap in plastic and store at room temperature.) |
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Copyright©2008 Atlantic Spice Co.
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